“Zaporizhstal” Steel Works of Metinvest Group provides an opportunity for students of Zaporizhzhia higher and secondary industry-specific institutions to master their future profession in real production conditions. Students undergo work placement internship at the Steel Works under the guidance of mentors – experienced employees of the enterprise, and in the future have the opportunity to get a job at “Zaporizhstal”.
General Director of the enterprise Roman Slobodyanyuk spoke about the possibilities of cooperation between “Zaporizhstal” and higher and secondary educational institutions at the forum “Skills of the Future. Ukraine”, which took place on October 12-13, 2023, on the basis of National University “Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic”.
“The recovery of Ukraine, the national economy and its basic industries must take place right now – and the youth will play not a least role in this. Both educators and employers are working to create conditions for young specialists to receive education and work in Ukraine. Our proposal is to combine these efforts at the stage of acquiring basic knowledge and skills. In particular, we are convinced that students of technical education should immerse themselves in production from the first years in order to get acquainted with the future workplace, better understand the specifics and gain basic experience. Over the past 10 years, the Steel Works has become the first place of work for almost two thousand specialists. And we are ready to continue guaranteeing employment for goal-oriented students at the same level as our employees,” said Roman Slobodyanyuk, General Director of “Zaporizhstal” of Metinvest Group.
In particular, for the 1st-2nd-year students, it is important to return to the practice of conducting familiarization tours, from the third year there is the possibility of work placement internship with employment at “Zaporizhstal”. According to the program of cooperation with educational institutions in the 2023 academic year, 114 interns completed their internship at “Zaporizhstal”. These are, in particular, students of “Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic Center of Vocational Education”, “Zaporizhzhia Vocational Lyceum of Railway Transport”, and “Zaporizhzhia Machine-Building Higher Vocational School”, as well as students of Zaporizhzhia Metallurgical College. The most popular professions are: metallurgical crane operator, locomotive driver’s assistant, electric gas welder, electrical fitter, etc.
The enterprise operates several directions of industrial training – according to the educational needs of students: introductory, industrial and pre-diploma. The duration of internship depends on the profession, the study year, and on average it lasts 1-2 months for students of colleges and universities, 4-6 months for students of vocational education institutions.
In the future, intern students have the opportunity to return to the enterprise for employment at their first workplace. “Zaporizhstal” has a special internship and adaptation program for young professionals, which includes training and advanced training courses and a mentoring system with experienced mentors assigned to each young worker.